Remo Control

By guest blogger C. Daniel Photos courtesy of Mark Batty Publisher “It’s not just the camera–it’s the person behind it.” This is the philosophy of hard-working visionary Remo Camerota. A critically-acclaimed, award-winning filmmaker and photographer, Camerota has an eye for cutting-edge art. His latest effort, Graffiti Japan, is a photographic collage of Japanese art with an urban twist. Graffiti Japan is a series of visual essays, the first of its kind to document Japan’s contemporary spray-paint based art scene, featuring a number of visual aesthetics including kanji, manga, and anime through crisp, clean, and concise images. For a man with over 30 cameras in his collection, ranging from two Polaroids to a 3G, 12 megapixel digital camera, the book is an opportunity for Camerota to share the unexposed renaissance and the stories of its creators with the rest of the world. “Everything is a ripple from age-old movements,” he says with a heavy Australian accent. “Japan took it to heart from books, television, and media. They sought it out and put their own twist to it with abstract art. I try to find something different in every situation, but it’s very important how I capture the images. It doesn’t matter what tools you really use. The most important thing is to find your own vision.” Taking almost two years to complete, Graffiti Japan is one of the first contemporary works to tackle the graffiti-book market. The colorful spreads total out to approximately 12,000 photographs, filling 128 pages. He gets the chance to build relationships with the artists, conduct personal interviews, and follow them to their individual environments, even if it is dangerous to study their work. Not quite familiar to American audiences, Japanese artists Kness, Belix 2, Fate, Tenga, Emar, Suiko, and QP take their approach to new heights. Full story after the jump. Camerota is a postmodern artist set on breaking boundaries. He knows that taking photos in certain areas is illegal, but he doesn’t care. He says his drive for discovery is a strong component to his craft. “I am pushing myself the best that I can I am constantly challenging my own exposure to find what’s different. I stay up to date to find new work from new people. I keep up with ongoing trends because it’s not about what’s currently moving, it’s about what’s next.” Never one to pigeonhole his own abilities, Camerota is a multi-faceted artist who wears many hats. He actively secures his vision with a willingness to always build on his craft. In addition to making films and taking photographs, the Coventry, England / Melbourne, Australia native specializes in digital art and television editing. An innovative and artistic scholar, Camerota holds a fine-arts degree from Australia’s premier Box Hill Institute of TAFE. He graduated in 1983 and continued his studies at the Victorian College of the Arts for Film and Television. A veteran of the international and student film festival circuits, he holds more honors than some of our favorite filmmakers. These honors include the VEVA Award for animation, 2 Lucie Photography Awards, the VCA Student Film Award, the Victorian Education Video Award, “Best Film” at the Exposure Film Festival, and even “Best Use of Gratuitous Violence” at the Melbourne Underground Film Festival. Camerota’s film catalog includes The Dropper’s Neck (1996), Through the Looking Glass (1996), Scar (1996), and Meat Market (2006). The films are a combination of social and political commentaries, black comedy, and horror. For Camerota, filmmaking is a medium that allows him to include various other artforms. Camerota’s work and vision also caught the attention of major rock act KISS. He directed the rock band’s DVD extras, B-rolls, and selected footage for the 2003 platinum-certified KISS Symphony tour. Three years later, he returns to photograph the outlandish act for their four-CD/DVD set, KISS Alive! Since 2003, he has owned and operated his own production complex, Whitewall Studios. It is a venture that allows Camerota to encapsulate all of his visual aesthetics–video production, creative development, directing, editing, special effects, two and three dimensional animation, illustration, graphic design, and photography–into one entity:. “I don’t hang around my words,” he says. “It’s a butterfly effect. I like to do things on my own. I make accomplishments within myself. I like to go into other worlds and speak on other levels. I’m a workaholic who sometimes does too much work. Yet, I feel connected to artists. It’s a beautiful thing.” For more information on Remo Camerota or Graffiti Japan, log onto www.graffitijapan.net or www.whitewallstudios.net.